CES: The latest weight-loss tool? A fork

Weight-loss pitches come fast and furious this time of year: diet meal delivery plans, gym memberships, even high-tech scales. Now, there are smart utensils that monitor how fast you eat.

Kelli B. Grant

The $99 HAPIfork, available this spring, uses sensors to monitor its movement from plate to mouth. It tracks the number of forkfuls per meal and per minute, and it times the interval between each. The fork lights up and vibrates when the diner eats too fast — that is, if there are fewer than 10 seconds between forkfuls. With the smart fork, “you will greatly improve your digestion, and you’ll likely start losing weight,” says a company spokesman. (Presumably, any weight loss is from eating less and slowly, not from food that vibrates off the fork and onto the floor. The HAPIfork vibration is similar to the buzz of a vibrating cell phone.) Although dining data can be tracked over time, the information must be downloaded to a computer after each meal. A spokesman says a Bluetooth version is in the works.

Slower eating has proven health benefits. Studies have found that it takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to alert your brain that you’re full, and eating faster means you are likely to consume more before that happens, says Kari L. Kooi, a registered dietitian at The Methodist Hospital in Houston. The HAPIfork’s size, a bit smaller than typical dinner forks, also helps. “A lot of people stuff their mouths with each bite,” she says.

Dieters are likely to find, however, that it takes more than a smart fork to meet weight goals. A 2011 study in The Journal of Nutrition found that although diners felt more sated after a slowly eaten meal, the more leisurely dining speed didn’t reduce their inclination to snack shortly after the meal. The $99 fork may also be more of a short-term investment. Slower eating is a conditioned behavior, and regular fork users are also likely to find that after a few months, they don’t need the fork’s warnings, says Kooi. (A spokesman says the HAPIfork’s associated app and tracking tools help users develop long-term healthy habits.)

Senior consumer reporter and “Deal of Day” columnist Kelli B. Grant travels to Las Vegas to find the best, the worst, and the most hyped gadgets at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Join her as she roams the exhibit floor for three days, with dispatches here and on Twitter @kelligrant.

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